Learned
by Oreithyia
Summary: The need to escape them pushed her to try. The need to survive them forced her to not try again. Darkfic.


Disclaimer: I do not own Diabolik Lovers, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Learned

The tone for the ending of the class sounded, and there was instantly the sounds of relief as the students dropped their pretense of paying attention instead of watching the clock countdown and grabbed their bags and overcoats. There was a low hum of noise as the rustle of fabric, scraping of chairs, grunts of effort, and drumbeat of feet combined as the class emptied.

All except one, who made a show of putting her books slowly into her school bag, as if lost in thought. She turned to flick her eyes over her shoulder for just a second towards the departing pack of uniformed students, as if to make sure she wasn't falling behind. Her head turned back and she made a show of sighing tiredly before heaving her self to her feet and lugging the bag up to the top of her desk.

Yui had become a master at faking.

The Sakamaki's all had the exceptional vampire hearing. She had learned that the hard way, several times over. If she delayed too long, one of them would come looking for her, probably whoever was hungriest. She couldn't even be sure she wasn't being monitored right now. She wasn't sure how many forms their familiars could take. She knew they had bats, which contrary to myth, weren't at all blind.

Pink eyes looked out from under her dark blonde lashes as she maintained her affected casualness. She kept her expression disinterested as she watched the man behind the teachers desk gather a pile of papers into his pudgy hands, then tap the end of the pile against his desk top with a series of clacking sounds.

Yui steeled herself mentally, clenching her teeth together and pushing her lower lip up, sticking out her jaw just a little.

She her footfalls against the polished floor to of the classroom were steady as she made her way through the desk to the front of the classroom. She was acutely aware of how dark it was outside the windows in the outer wall. She had no way of knowing if she was being watched, but she had to try.

"Sato-sensei?" she asked lightly.

Her sensei looked up from his satchel and giving her his full attention.

Yui had been carefully observing and mentally cataloging the habits of the teachers and staff at her school. Ever since she had learned, rather cruelly, that the staff of the Sakamaki mansion, including the chauffeur, would not help her, she had wondered if she had any chance of getting help from one of her teachers. She had first suspected that the school administration was in the pocket of the Sakamaki's as well, then Laito got suspended for trying to hit up several senior members of the girls track team at once. _Three of them?! That's too much even for you!_

Sato-sensei was absolutely, completely, ordinary. He was 40-something, a little overweight, and had a receding hairline. Since the Sakamaki's didn't like her talking to her classmates, she had concentrated on eavesdropping on every conversation she could, pretending to be air-headed and dim to make herself innocuous even as she spied. No one had anything notable to say about Sato-sensei. He was tough but fair, could be dull when lecturing, and was approachable when students had concerns. It was that she banking on.

"Sato-sensei," she began, keeping her voice low but even. Five of the brothers would be going down to the limo, jabbering and complaining, then waiting about 10 mins as Shu-san manifested the motivation to shuffle down from wherever he went during school hours. If she was careful they'd be too busy talking to listen for her voice. "I need your help."

The teacher made eye contact with her with a look of concern. He was so short he barely had to look down to do so. "Yes?"

"The family my father left me with is bad. It's six boys, no parents. They…" Her throat got thick. "They do things they shouldn't and I can't stop them." She blinked rapidly. They were horrible and they weren't right in the head. She didn't know why. Was it because of what they were? She had to try to be kind to them anyway, because that's what a good Christian did. But turning the other cheek and just letting people do horrible things were two separate and very different things. She _had_ to try to get away! It wasn't just a duty to herself.

Sato-sensei look very worried, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening and his mouth curved down into a deep frown. "Do you not wish to go home, back to the house with them?" he asked softly.

She nodded frantically, trying to keep her breathing under control. If she lost it now they were certain to overhear.

Her teacher very gently laid a hand on her shoulder, giving her his most sympathetic look. "You don't have to go home with them. I'm going to get another teacher…"

"No!" Yui insisted as loud as she dared. "I don't know who works for their family." She looked at him as intensely as she could. "They have a lot of money. If they find out I tried to leave-"

Sato-sensei brought up his hands placatingly, softly quieting her. "I promise you, we can get around them." He smiled sadly. "This isn't the first time a student at this school needed to leave."

Yui nodded in understanding. She had hoped whatever the school did for students with abusive parents or who were running away would work for her.

The teacher gave her one last reassuring smile before he walked hurriedly from the room, leaving his satchel on his desk.

Yui stood in place breathing, trying to get her heart rate down. Her adrenaline was so high she was trembling. _Hurry, please. _She just had to get somewhere safe, then she could find her father and find out why he was so determined to leave her behind with these people. Forget the Sakamaki's giving her answers, she'd ask him herself.

*****O*****

The hallway had cleared of students, only snatches of voices echoed back down the corridor. Sato walked hurriedly down the hall towards the teachers office, his tie flapping slightly in the breeze made by the hurry he was in. His head tilted down towards the floor as he organized this thoughts, calling up a list of contacts to get the girl away from her family. He wondered if there was contact information for her father in her emergency contacts. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice the senior standing in a side corridor he passed by.

Reiji frowned disapprovingly. "Insolence."

*****O*****

Yui tried and failed to focus on the finer points redox chemistry. She looked at the equation she had written in her notebook over and over and couldn't hold on to it long enough to label the oxidizer and reducer. If one of the Sakamaki's came looking for her, he might leave her be if she said she wanted to do her homework at the school.

"Yui-san."

Yui jumped so hard she lost her grip on her pencil, which tumbled through the air then bounced on the floor with a clack. She spun in her chair, her blonde hair fanning out with the force of her movement. "Reiji-san!" she gasped, then remember her plan. "You startled me!"

"This is immediately obvious," he deadpanned. "Gather your belongings, please. We are leaving."

"I thought I would stay here to study," she said innocently.

"Then you were mistaken. Do not make me repeat myself."

Yui reluctantly turned back to her chemistry homework and began packing. Sato-sensei would guess what happened and he'd have more time to get her a place to stay anyway. She picked up her pen from the floor and made eye contact with the hard red eyes of Reiji. She suppressed a shudder.

*****O*****

"All students to the main assembly hall!"

Yui held her school bag in front of her, the weight pulling at her arms as she weaved in and out of the traffic the arriving students made. Teachers were waving them towards the cavernous assembly room that was rapidly filling with a sea of black-cad students. She heard the hissing of suppressed giggles and turned her head towards the noise. A pair of boys were snickering at Kanato-kun, his arms wrapped around Teddy, as he stood looking towards the stage, lost in thought. Kanato heard the hissing and turned towards the two boys. Yui didn't see his expression, but the two boys instantly stopped laughing and all the color drained out of their faces. They nearly tripped over themselves getting away.

Yui dutifully sat down next Kanato-kun, and suppressed a frown as Laito slipped in next to her and sat way too close. She could give classes on keeping her face blank. The whole row of chairs thumped as Ayato sat down hard next to Laito. Yui could feel him glaring.

She slid carefully along her chair towards Kanato, who took notice. Smiling, he turned his bear to face him as he addressed it. "Yui-san is being very friendly today, isn't she, Teddy?"

"Laito-kun is crowding me a bit," she said tonelessly.

She ignored whatever lewd thing Laito said in response, and the possessive spouting from Ayato. Ayato at least was easy to trick. Having successfully pinned Ayato's anger on his brother, she began to wonder more about the assembly. She ran her eyes over the the teachers she could see. Some seemed upset, based on their posture. She felt a heavy dread rising up in her stomach. She didn't see Sato-sensei anywhere.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She became aware of the brothers attention on her.

Ayato was leaning forward to look at her around Laito. "Oi, what's wrong?" He sounded genuinely puzzled, and possible genuinely concerned, but that could be her mind playing games.

Laito had turned serious as well. She had figured out that Laito was probably the smartest of the brothers, or at least the most cunning. He was looking at her askance, green eyes sharply analytical. Kanato was giving her that normal hollow look he used when he felt insecure, which was almost always.

She tuned her ears to the murmur of voices echoing in the huge room.

"Said it was an accident…"

"Found him in the stairwell…"

"Broke his neck in the fall…"

"Cleaning crew found him…"

"But Sato-sensei was so nice!"

Yui inhaled brokenly, her chest felt like it was compressing inward. She became aware of a presence behind her as her hair was jostled, then she heard a voice whisper in her ear, the breath that spoke it cool against her skin.

"Cleaning up the little mess you made was quite bothersome," Reiji breathed. "I even had to have the security recordings corrupted." He paused to let that sink in. "I would advise you not to make that same mistake again."

She felt him lean back, and she choked on her breath a bit, her pink eyes forward but unseeing.

She grit her teeth hard as she Laito coo beside her. "Was Bitch-chan a bad girl? How naughty!"

She heard Ayato growl something at his brother.

_This is a nightmare. I'm trapped in a nightmare._

* * *

Learned Helplessness is when repeated attempts to do something are meet with failure to the point that the subject stops trying, even when more opportunities are present. A commonly studied example is kids who don't do well in school that give up altogether because they try and fail, and don't see a reason to keep trying, particularly if they have to feel the humiliation of trying and failing repeatedly. Learned Helplessness can be tough behavior to ditch.

I'm sort of bummed by the portrayal of Yui in the anime. Her options are limited but she isn't that helpless in the other media, but I understand it's a consequence of trying make the fans of all the brothers happy. Would have been cool for them to animate the time she bit Laito on the mouth when kissed her without permission. It back fires, but she tried.

Review if you like it!

Oreithyia


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